Ron was 7.5 hours in surgery and was recovering with lots of morphine when I saw him at 6:00. The surgeons were doing rounds so I was able to get to run down: everything went according to plan; he has a lot of stitches and metal in his jaw (me too!); he's doing great and will probably be released tomorrow. They are monitoring him for pain tonight but once he can manage his pain with oral medicine, he'll be good to go.
Ron looks like he's a celebrity whose had "the works" done on his face. There are a billion IV's and his lower face and head are bandaged. He is a bit swollen but totally responsive. He squeezed my hand and asked what time it was...also wanted me to change the tv channel to ESPN so you know he's at least somewhat lucid. He's really doing well. All the reconstruction on his chin went great and the dr's said with his new chin, jaw alignment and bite, I may not recognize him... nah, that won't happen.
I must say, it's very hard to see someone you love in so much pain. I left Ella at our neighbors as she is "traumatized" if she sees her Daddy and he doesn't pick her up (like when he comes home from work...she's already crying with her arms up before he can get his jacket off!) I was gone a total of 2 hours, and Ella, after the first hour, realized I was not there and cried most of the last hour. Poor thing, she's never really been left with a sitter before.
Off to a big lonely bed. I hope Ron is medicated enough he can sleep through the night and rest up. His recovery is going to be hard at first but he's so strong, it should be a speedy one. I miss him terribly and wish I could make it better for him. Only time will do that. Hopefully he'll be home tomorrow so I can take care of him. He does so well taking care of us, for Ella and I, he really is our rock.
What a difference a night makes! All the head bandages were off except for a few on his chin, and he was sitting up eating, I mean drinking, breakfast. We should have been more diligent with Ella's sign language as it would be really handy now. :) Unfortunately, the obvious jaw surgery combined with the amount of meds, is making Ron's communication very difficult for me to decipher. I need to learn to make more yes and no questions because "What do you need?" is becoming a 10 minute lesson in the sign/grumble/grunt language. Ron's speech will get easier with practice...try to talk audibly with your teeth clenched, not moving your lips... that's about where Ron is now... plus he's got a billion stitches and a swollen face.
We picked him up at dinner time and got the run down on his meds...all 10 of them. Ron was looking great, but still in a lot of pain of course. We walked out of the hospital and headed right to the Navy Exchange for a sale on laptop computers. See, a really big difference a mere 24 hours can make! We came out with a brand new laptop for Daddy... Happy (early) Father's Day to him. He's resting, Ella's hyper that her Daddy is home and I'm going to go to bed and ignore Ella talking to herself in her crib. The prince is back in his castle and his princess' are happy.
